Deaths at Eagles Nest - Homosassa FL

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Sounds to me Daddy bought a non certified diver his son gear for Christmas and then made another dumb decision and took him diving.

Well, in the article I cited in my above post it seems that one of the recovery divers - a cave diver and friend of Spivey - knew he was diving EN as a non-cave certified diver, with his non-certified son, but regularly loaned him gear to do so.

In the other article I cited further above, another diver-friend would often sit at the EN dock fearing Spivey and and son wouldn't come back.

"With friends like that..."

[/shakehead]
 
This goes so far beyond negligent diving, especially for the father, than I have ever heard of.
 
I don't wish to hijack the thread in any way, or divert energy from the understandable gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, which is the common response to deaths of non-caves trained divers in caves. But, I am curious. We hear about the tragic outcomes (as in this case). Yet, I wonder how often divers 'get away with it'. How often do non-cave trained divers go into caves, and come out without incident? The hindsight assessment, that what was done was foolish / stupid / moronic, is not something with which a reasonable person would predictably disagree. Nonetheless, I am curious - is this tempting of fate more common than we might perceive it to be, and we only hear about the deaths, and the occasional rescue?
 
I don't wish to hijack the thread in any way, or divert energy from the understandable gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, which is the common response to deaths of non-caves trained divers in caves. But, I am curious. We hear about the tragic outcomes (as in this case). Yet, I wonder how often divers 'get away with it'. How often do non-cave trained divers go into caves, and come out without incident? The hindsight assessment, that what was done was foolish / stupid / moronic, is not something with which a reasonable person would predictably disagree. Nonetheless, I am curious - is this tempting of fate more common than we might perceive it to be, and we only hear about the deaths, and the occasional rescue?

Well, at the risk of being overly glib, it sounds like Spivey and his son survived all of their cave dives but this last one. There are probably many others who simply haven't done their last, fatal dive yet. Hopefully those people - and their "enabler" friends - learn something from this incident. Though I wouldn't bet money on that being the case. Should we count the days until the next reported death of a non-cave certified diver in a cave? Or, how about simply until the next post of a cave diver chasing an OW diver out of a cave or otherwise intervening on what might be someone's last, fatal dive.
 
Originally Posted by Colliam7
I don't wish to hijack the thread in any way, or divert energy from the understandable gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, which is the common response to deaths of non-caves trained divers in caves. But, I am curious. We hear about the tragic outcomes (as in this case). Yet, I wonder how often divers 'get away with it'. How often do non-cave trained divers go into caves, and come out without incident? The hindsight assessment, that what was done was foolish / stupid / moronic, is not something with which a reasonable person would predictably disagree. Nonetheless, I am curious - is this tempting of fate more common than we might perceive it to be, and we only hear about the deaths, and the occasional rescue?

Probably often, more often then it should. We train for when things go wrong, not for when things go right. Divers who are not trained for the environment they are diving may "get away with it" when all goes as planned with no issues, but once something happens to start the spiral, there is no training to fall back on.
 
That's why I said "This goes so far beyond negligent diving"...

Had the father survived, he may very well have been made an example of legally. A number of criminal charges come to mind considering his son was a minor, even if there are no scuba specific "laws" on the books.
 
Many years ago when I was young, I bought scuba gear at a yard sale and taught myself to dive...solo.
I didn't die (obviously) or suffer any mishaps, but I didn't know what I didn't know.

I eventually decided education/certification was a prudent choice (besides, itwas getting harder to get tank fills).
I would never cave dive without training, but I can see how someone could, andif they did so successfully, how they could become complacent and develop an overestimated sense of ability.


There will always be those who dive beyond their ability or training.
Some will survive, some will not.
Those who survive are rarely heard from and provide little service to the diving community.
Those who don't survive will at best serve as a catalyst for others to pursue appropriate training, and at the very least serve as a grim reminder that training will always trump luck.

This report makes me sad and angry, as a father, I can't imagine a more horrible scenario; tethered to my child, sharing the last of my air and frantically searching for an exit. They would breathe the tank down and both would run out of air simultaneously. I
just can't imagine this level of horror for any father to go through, basicallywatching the end come for his child, knowing it came as a direct result of his own actions.

The rules violated were so well known, I feel there is nothing I can learn from this event; but I have an overwhelming need to go spend some time with my kids now.
 
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